By PHOTOgraphic Staff

December 1, 2003 — Did you ever wonder how the pros shoot those interactive panoramas and revolving, view-from-any-side, product shots? The key is taking control of the shooting sequence. Such control may be more dependent on the tripod/pan head combo than the camera.

Panoramic photography has existed for almost 80 years, but recent imaging technologies and software have taken the panorama to yet another level, allowing capture of complete 360° x 360° cubic and spherical views. Cubic and spherical panoramas expand upon the traditional flat or cylindrical panorama. They allow for documentation of the complete environment.

Manfrotto recently announced the 300 series of QTVR heads, including several new additions to this specialized field. The 300 series is designed to allow sequential constant-angle shots, essential for achieving accurate and easy-to-stitch panoramic compositions.

The 303SPH head allows photography of multi-row cubic, spherical and cylindrical panoramas, along with virtual reality (VR) object movie sequences. It has sliding plates to position the camera over the panoramic axis of rotation, plus a sliding plate which rotates around the front/back tilt axis. This allows the camera to be rotated on both horizontal and vertical axis around the camera/lens nodal point, so multi-row panoramic photo sequences (cubic VR photos) can be taken.

Manfrotto's new website attempts to make this seemingly complex style of photography easy to understand. The site includes an explanation of how to find the nodal point of your camera, and how to use your camera and their heads to produce a variety of panoramic image styles. You will also find a series of examples of panoramic photography solutions.